it's fascinating. i've read some excerpts from it. you sent that home to your father. >> thanks. thank you. >> thank you, man. i appreciate it. thank you, jayson williams. and thank you for watching. good night, everyone. sweating it out -- power outages after a swath of deadly storms leave millions in several states to bake in triple-digit heat today. plus, turning the tide -- firefighters in colorado may finally be getting the upper hand on those deadly fires. they've already destroyed hundreds of homes. and winner take all -- two american sprinters in a head-to-head runoff tonight with an olympic spot on the line. but will it happen? somebody may be dropping out. we're going to check in on that

for you. good morning to you, welcome to "early start" on this monday morning. i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm ashlee. >> it's the kind of heat that makes it hard to breathe and it is still threatening millions of americans all the way from the midwest to the northeast this morning. >> about 16 people have now died from this heat since thursday when triple-digit temperatures unleashed killer storms that have now left millions of people without power this morning. it's incredible, but look how many states are now dealing with miserable conditions in ohio, 425,000 people are now without power. that's as of 10:00 p.m. last night. it's the same story in virginia and maryland, where hundreds of thousands of people are just waiting for the power to come back on. just a whiff of ac in these extraordinary temperatures. the problem there doesn't seem to be much of a let-up in sight. 20 states are under heat advisory warnings.

and now a state of emergency has been declared by the governors of maryland, ohio, west virginia and virginia. we're live in montgomery county, maryland this morning. give me the story from where you are. it's a little dark behind you. but essentially it's a story about heat and a story about power and a story about storms all converging in one thing. >> you know it is, ashlee. one of the big issues with not having power, as of last night, 395 traffic signals just in this county alone were out. we're standing at one of them. this is a major intersection, it's only 5:00 a.m. and you're seeing cars come through. the traffic signals aren't working. you have police out helping to direct traffic, there's flares in the road, they've put up a generator for lights. this is the issue that agencies will be dealing with. federal agencies are going to be open, they've said that nonemergency employees can work

remotely. if you're one of those people without power and you've been dealing with zero air conditioning and food issues and water supply issues all weekend, you might be looking forward to coming into work today. this is one of the issues that we're going to be seeing. i can tell you in virginia, about 200 national guard troops are on stand-by, able to help out with dealing with traffic as well. this is an area that has traffic problems anyway day, it's going to be worse today, actually. >> the governors have declared a state of emergency in a number of places to allow fema to get involved is that the story in maryland? >> it's not clear whether maryland has asked fema for federal assistance. there was a conference call in virginia yesterday, that government was asked what neef done. they hadn't yet asked for assistance, either, but they know it's going to be available. the real issue today is dealing with the people, dealing with the high 90s and 100-degree temperatures, those people who don't have power are still going

to be looking for cooling centers like the 110 cooling centers open in virginia. going to places like libraries, shopping malls, any place that has air to help them stay cool. another scorcher and the weather has been a bit unstable. it continues to be unstable. there were storms last night in the region that caused some problems. we've already seen lightning this morning and we could see more storms in this area as early as today. and so all of that talk of when the power will come back, it's all going to depend on when, how the weather cooperates, most utility companies are saying by the end of the week, that's still several more days, it's only monday. >> oh, lord, that sounds terrible. hopefully the people searching for places of work. hopefully the places of work have power and ac and some relief for them. we should let you know as well, despite temperatures approaching the triple digits today, federal agencies in washington, d.c. are planning to be open. the employees are given the option of taking unscheduled

leave or in some cases working from home, too. emergency personnel are expected to report to work this morning. and in new york, there is a labor dispute. raging at the power company at the height of the heat wave. can you see a lot of anger there, and 8,000 employees at the company, con edison have been locked out after contract talks broke down over this very hot weekend. so meter readings have been suspended and walk-in centers have been closed as 5,000 management-level workers try to keep the power flowing to 3.2 million customers. colorado battling high temperatures and deadly wildfires. meteorologist rob marciano has been there in colorado springs, covering the wildfires for us. rob, we're going to get to the latest on the fires. first, can you update us on the extreme heat? >> unbelievable heat that we've seen over the weekend, zoraida. over 1800 records have fallen in

the past seven days. 150, over 150 all-time record highs so in many cases this is unprecedented heat. and certainly dangerously so. take a look at the record high temperatures, just from yesterday. chattanooga, 107 degrees. atlanta, georgia, 105. some of these again, all-time records, in nashville, 105. laguardia seeing a high temperature of 97 degrees as wellth and d.c. getting into the mid 90s. those temperatures measured in the shade, they don't include humidity. we do have a weak cold front and i emphasize weak, that's sliding across the northeast. we don't have nearly as many heat advisories and warnings today. still, there's a slew of states from the western great lakes to the southeast, including the mid south under a heat advisory and heat warning today, with heat indices expected to get to 110, 115 degrees food. most of the areas still in the areas that still have no power, no heat advisories, but it's not going to be cool, in the mid 90s

in d.c. it will still touch 90 degrees in new york city. so even though we're seeing a little relief, temperatures will remain well above average through the next several days. still dangerous heat when you're talking about people without power and with humidity levels that are still relatively high. and the overall pattern, zoraida over the next several days looks for the heat to basically build back up. we're in the middle of summer and no real cool pool of air that's going do dive south from canada so we have to kind of grin and bear it. >> no kidding, it looks the same across the board, really. so authorities have lifted the evacuation orders, we understand. for all but 3,000 people in colorado springs. what's the latest there? >> that's right. big doings over the weekend here, a lot of folks were allowed to come back and look at their homes. at one point they were going do allow people to come back in buses and not get out of the bus to see what's left of their home, 346 homes completely

destroyed by this. they did a caravan, people were allowed to drive in their own vehicles to investigate and look at their neighborhoods and look at what's left of their homes. an extremely emotional event. we caught up with several families that went in to check out their homes and here's some sound from one of those families and their experience. >> it looked like a war zone. it was just, it was completely caved in, it didn't even look like a house. it was bad. and it just, the smell, it smelled like smoke. it was, you got down in it and it smelled like ash. it was awful. >> a lot of these people had already waited five, six days, just to go back and look. so it's been a long, long haul. the fire itself, we've made great strides in the containment, 55% contained. this is still not the only fire that's burning across the west,

several large fires, not only in colorado, but across wyoming. there was a c-130 firefighting aircraft. a reserve air force aircraft modified to fly. the battle continues in colorado and a slew of western states and we're just getting into fire season. but this fire they believe it's mostly under control. still, there's 3,000 people that are not allowed do go back into their homes. for a slew of reasons, one their neighborhood is destroyed or two, utilities have to get back in order. over the weekend we had a scare with black bears invading some of these neighborhoods, because their habitat has been burned. kind of confused, kind of odd. but these houses bump up against some of the national forests and you can imagine that the wildlife reeling from this event as well. >> all right. rob, we appreciate it. a lot of folks have been asking how they can help.

can you go to cnn.com/impact if you would like to help the folks in that area. it's nine minutes past 5:00 on the east coast and three members of nato's international security force have been shot and killed in southern afghanistan. they were gunned down yesterday, by a man wearing an afghan national police uniform. the identities of the victims and their nationalities have not yet been released. it isn't clear whether the attacker was in fact a police officer or instead was an infiltrator just wearing the afghan police uniform. >> the only abortion clinic still operating in mississippi can stay open at least for now. a new law in the state went into effect yesterday, requiring abortion providers to be certified obgyns. practitioners with privileges at area hospitals as well. that law puts the jackson women's health organization at risk. a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order that will keep the clinic's doors open at least until a hearing on

july 11th. it looks like mexico's old guard may be returning to power after being absent for the last 12 years. an official preliminary vote count has enrique of the institutional revolutionary party winning yesterday's election. however, a leftist candidate is refusing to concede. pieneato's party controlled the government for 11 years until vincente fox in 2001. more on tonight's runoff between two olympic hopefuls, tonight. every communications provider is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company.

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welcome back, 14 minutes

past the hour. what do you do when two sprinters competing for the last spot on the olympic team tie? you remember this photo, we brought the story to you last week -- wrong photo. can we get the photo of the two gals up? two female runners finished the olympic trial race exactly at the same time, we're getting the photo ready for you, not even a 3,000 frames per second camera could determine who finished first. allison felix and jeneba tarmoh will compete in a runoff tonight to determine who will get the last spot on the u.s. olympic team's 100-meter squad. joining me now, "sports illustrated".com's maggie gray. those poor girls, i got to tell you, that was a tough one to come up with that decision. but don't answer me yet because i want to get to what happened last night if we can start talking about the events that happened last night. phelps competing in eight events we understand. >> yeah, michael phelps said he was going to scale back his

olympic program in these games, it turns out he has the exact same program as he did in beijing. five individual events, three relays, still determining whether he will be in the pool for all of those. that's the program right now. >> missy franklin, only 17 years old, a phenom that we should be watching. >> she'll be a huge story in the games if she swims all seven events, she'll be the first olympic woman to ever swim that many events in one olympic games, we'll be hearing her name a lot. >> and gabby douglas won gymnastics all around. >> she beat jordan weaver by .1 of a point. they're saying that this gymnastics squad could be the best since atlanta in 1996, remember that gold medal-winning group. >> let's get to the photo finish, right? there are reports that one of these throats may drop out. tell us about that. >> this is drama that is unfolding in real-time right now. in oregon. they're still deciding what they're going to do. jeneba tarmoh sources said last night said she has pulled out of the race, she has not officially

withdrawn. but right now she does not want to rub in this runoff. she believes that she won the race, that was the unofficial score that she was the third-place finisher and should be on the olympic team. she does not want a runoff, she does not want a coin toss, they're in a tough position. >> it shocked me that they offered them a coin toss. can we go back to the photo? i want everybody to see it on the photo finish. this is the reason she believes she won, right? is it the leg? >> essentially it's the torso but that's a very subjective term. the person who is responsible for photo finishes is not a usa track and field referee. it's an outside company that they have been doing this for so many years and he has done thousands of races so he's using his best knowledge of where the torso would be. you can see by the bib there, that's on on allison felix is by the bib and tarmoh is kind of

turned a little bit. so they use data points on a laptop. you mentioned the 3,000 frames per second on the camera, and they try to determine who crossed the finish line first. they said it was tarmoh who finished 1/100th of a second before felix. she took the victory lap. but the guy who did the photo finish called the referee to come and he overturned it and said we have a dead heat. >> some said felix would be the one to drop out. why is that? >> she already made the olympic team for the 200-meter. she has two silver medals for that. she is the favorite in london to win gold. the 100 is a really specific and crucial part of her 200 walk-up. neither woman is going to back down. you have to understand why. you think that you can just -- >> there's a lot at stake. >> we say hey, just run the race

again, like that would be a really easy thing to do. but for these athletes, every minuscule, every second is so important to them. to just run again is not as frivolous to them as it would seem to us. >> there's a lot going on here, folks. these girls are also good friends. so maggie is going to come back later in the hour and talk to us a lot more about these olympic hopefuls, thank you so much for joining us, appreciate it. back to you. it's 19 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. from the midwest to the northeast, millions of people are facing another day of killer, killer temperatures. 16 people have now died since thursday, when triple-digit temperatures unleashed killer storms and left millions of people without power. this morning, 20 states, 20 are under heat advisory warnings. state of emergency has been declared by the governors of maryland, ohio, west virginia, and also virginia. a suspected gang member from

the west side of chicago is being held without bond in the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old girl. a 26-year-old man is facing first-degree murder charges. and police say, the little girl and her mother were selling candy to neighborhood kids last wednesday when two men approached the group and opened fire. police are still looking for the second gunman. amy copeland, the 24-year-old graduate student from georgia although lost her hands, her left leg and right foot to flesh-eating bacteria is getting ready to enter a rehab center. amy's father says she will move today to an undisclosed facility for inpatient treatment. japan's freeways could be filled with driverless cars as soon as the next decade. japanese government is now opening talks with nissan, mazda, toyota and honda, hoping to produce the robot cars for the masses by the 2020s. >> one major issue, though, how

to you assign the responsibility for an accident that does not involve human beings who are driving? >> that's a bit tricky. >> that is tricky. 20 minutes past the hour. an early read on local news that's making national headlines. the four middle school students who verbally harassed their school bus monitor have been suspended from school and the bus for one year. you will remember the youtube video went viral. we showed it to you. all four students will be sent to an alternative education center instead of school. school district says they must also complete 50 hours of community service with senior citizens. meantime, the democrat chronicle newspaper says new york bus monitor, karen klein, will spend the nearly $700,000 raised on her behalf to pay bills, help her children and she says she's going to donate some money to charity as well. from that great story to this -- really awful story. homeless man living high on the

hog, on other people's money. here's how he figured out his scam. police in florida arrested a 30-year-old man they said was sneaking into ritzy hotel rooms, racking up thousands of dollars and sticking the previous guest with the tab. it sounds simple enough, right? not so. the "orlando sentinel" said he watched guests as they were leaving, they called the front desk quickly to say, i want to extend my stay instead. the officers say he ordered food and wine and room service and believe it or not, even clothing. i don't know how you get room service of clothing. that's what this dude did. apparently he was doing it for a while. scamming hotels for nearly two years. the jig is up, buddy. that's over. for an expanded look at all stories, head to our blog, cnn.com/earlystart. what's in a name? $60 million of that name in ipad, more of the dispute that forced apple to write a huge check.

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>> let's bring in alison kosik, the nerdiest among us, sitting in for christine romans. christine is typically the top nerd on the desk. there's been a battle brewing between ipad here and ipad in china who is going to use the name. >> you always think, you step back and think what's in a name. for apple especially everything is in a name. what's ironic is you think about when the ipad first came out, we all made fun of the ipad, there were all of those spoofs. where did they come up with the name ipad. the world's most valuable company has been locked head to head in the lawsuit with a company in china called pro view, they make these monitor force computers. and at issue here was, who owns the name, ipad. this company pro view or apple and apple said what happened when it bought the ipad trademark from pro view to use in several companies. but chinese authorities said the

rights in china weren't transferred. so after two years of back-and-forth, it was settled for $60 million. it isn't about the money. that's not a big deal for apple. for apple, it was about sales, it was hurting sales, sales wise in china. apple has its biggest sales. china is apple, it has a fourth of apple's biggest sales next to the u.s. especially with the legal hold-up, was delay the launch of the new ipad in china, because the resellers, the other companies couldn't sell the ipad. the ipad dominates the tablet pc market in china. you look at how the ipad is has done. it's the fastest-selling device next to the iphone of course. for apple. this was a huge thorn in apple's side. so for $60 million, that was a nothing check. it was a speed bump for apple that's now pushed to the side. now apple can get on with its business. >> all right. alison kosik, thanks very much. and lives and homes are on

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no relief. power outages leave people in several states helpless against searing heat. >> failure to act -- a series of emails suggest that jerry sandusky's sex abuse cover-up at penn state. and what happened to amelia earhart? a brand new expedition is setting out to uncover the truth this week. and they may have a few

extra-fabulous clues to boot. welcome back, everyone, to "early start," i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. 30 minutes past the hour. there's no let-up in sight for millions of americans trying to cope with killer heat this morning. more than one million people in ohio, virginia and maryland remain without power right now. and temperatures approaching triple digits are in the forecast today across the board, really, 20 states are under heat advisory warnings and a state of emergency has been declared by the governors of maryland, ohio, west virginia and virginia. athena jones is live from montgomery county, maryland this morning. athena, i was reading in your area, 490,000 outages at the height of this. have they restored power to those folks? >> you know, the power is coming back to some of them, zoraida. but it will take up to a week for full restoration. not just in maryland, but also in virginia, that's what we're hearing from utility companies down there. saturday or sunday by then, everyone should have their power back. that's of course if the weather cooperates, we've been seeing

some unstable weather. some of the real issues here with all the power outages you have a lot of traffic signals that are out. here in montgomery county north of washington, d.c., a heavily-trafficked area, this is a major intersection with the traffic lights out, police directing traffic. you're not going to be at every single one of the intersections, we expect to see a lot of congestion and some long commute for some. >> and it's power and heat. they're hoping a lot of cooling centers up, i understand? >> that's right. if you don't have air conditioning, you can't run a fan. if you don't have power, people have been going to cooling centers. virginia had 110 of them open. this county has been looking at doing that as well. people are going to libraries and shopping centers and grocery stores are handing out bags of ice. in a few hours' time yesterday, nine harris-teeters in the area handed out 3,000 bags of ice. people are encouraging people to be nice to their family and

neighbors. if you have air conditioning, invite people over. people are doing what they can to cope, zoraida. >> for a monday, if you don't have power at home you're looking forward to going to work for a change, right? >> exactly. >> thank you very much, athena. we'll be joined by baltimore mayor at 7:00 a.m. eastern, to get an update on the power outages in one of the hardest-hit areas of the country. colorado is battling not only the extreme heat and also the horrifyingly deadly wildfires. this morning it looks like some firefighters are getting the upper hand with certain fires. the waldo canyon fire, which has been a terrible one we've been reporting on for two weeks, now 55% contained. our meteorologist, rob marciano is live on colorado springs, he's been on assignment for over a week. first before we talk about the fire and the containment progress they've been making, bring me up to speed on the heat wave, which is what the biggest crisis was at the beginning of all this. >> when we think about heat, and

the weather business, this is the worst-case scenario. you get a cluster of thunderstorms that wipes out power like it did to millions of people and you get record searing and record-breaking heat on top of that. that's what we saw on the weekend and still seeing that right now. a little bit of relief expected. a little bit. i emphasize that. here are the record highs from yesterday. some of these all-time records, we've had 1800 records in the last seven days, here's a few from yesterday. chattanooga, atlanta, 107, 105 nashville, 105. laguardia, seeing 97 degrees and d.c. seeing a record high temperature of 96 degrees. here's where the heat warnings are, note that the northeast corridor, you're not under heat advisories, but you're still going to be warm. temperatures will be 90-plus in those areas, in the oranges and pinks, that's where we'll see dangerous temperatures, they'll feel like 100 to 115 degrees. the overall pattern does keep

the heat basically across much of the eastern u.s. until further notice. so we're into july now, there's no real such thing as a cold front coming through that will drop temperatures in the 70s. do what we have to do in order to stay cool, because heat is the number one related weather killer. so far, so good, as far as how bad it could have been this past week good job by the authorities and communities there, keep it up. >> so let me ask you a little bit about the waldo fire that you've been,ed waldo canyon fire that you've been covering which ha has become the most unbearable one. with tens of thousands of people evacuating their homes. they're getting somewhat of an upper hand on it at the point now where they can let some people actually go back to see if they lost their homes or not. >> yeah, you know, record-breaking heat here over the weekend. temperatures in the mid to upper 90s. we've reduced the number of evacuees to about 3,000, that's down from 30,000.

that's the good news there. and the to ex-that unfortunately had their neighborhoods or homes destroyed were allowed to go back yesterday and take a look at what's left. those people obviously have either nothing to go back to or are in an area that, where there's no infrastructure for their neighborhoods, that's the sad news there, 55% containment. that's the encouragement, even after the temperatures that were record-breaking here and red flag warnings here yesterday. firefighters had done a spectacular job of trying to get a handle on this thing. we are very close to the neighborhood that got burned down. the city is starting to recover as far as folks getting back to where they belong. but still, 3,000 people without evacuated here in colorado springs. >> well you're right, i mean better than 30,000 plus. but i'm sure small consolation to the 3,000 who are still you know, in shelters, rob marciano, thanks very much. >> 37 minutes past the hour. new evidence indicates three

former penn state officials may have covered up a 2001 incident involving former coach, jerry sandusky and a young boy in a shower. cbc has been made aware of emails between former university president, graham spanier, then vice president gary schultz and athletic director, tim curley, shortly after graduate assistant, mike mcqueary, reported the incident to them 11 years ago. spanier deciding not to tell authorities, instead telling curley, quote, the only down side for us is if the message isn't heard and acted upon and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it. but that can be assessed down the road. curley and schultz face perjury charges and are also accused of failing to properly report suspected child abuse. democrats say the battle over the president's health care reforms is over now that the supreme court has upheld the law. but republicans are saying -- oh no. the fight is only just begun. house speaker, john boehner, not

mincing any words, appearing yesterday on cbs's "face the nation" he was asked if there was any part of this law he would embrace. >> this has to be ripped out by its roots. this is government taking over the entire health insurance industry. the american people do not want to go down this path. they do not want the government telling them what kind of insurance they have to buy. and how much they're going to pay for it and if you don't like it, we're going to tax you, it has to be ripped out and we need to start over. >> well speaker boehner said he was surprised by the supreme court's ruling. but that it only strengthened the resolve of republicans to repeal that law. and at 7:00 eastern on starting point, republican congressman tom price of georgia is a doctor and he's a member of the house ways and means committee. he will be appearing live to talk about health care bill. also with health care law. and at 8:00 eastern, republican congresswoman, marsha blackburn

will be joining us. she's the gop deputy whip and she plans to fight to repeal the president's health care reforms. by the end of the week, one of america's most enduring mysteries could actually be solved. coming up, the new expedition to find out what happened to amelia earhart. i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate through university of phoenix, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor. i'm committed to making a difference in people's lives, and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. >> announcer: you never know when, but thieves can steal your identity, turning your life upside down in a matter of seconds. >> hi. >> hi. you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. >> you just read my mind. >> announcer: just one little piece of information and they

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welcome back, 43 minutes past the top of the hour. it's one of the biggest mysteries in american history, the disappearance of amelia earhart. she vanished 75 years ago today. and tomorrow, the amelia earhart expedition is set to leave hawaii on route to the island to search the area where researchers really now believe her wreckage is located. much of this steps from a single photograph taken in 1937, but three months after amelia earhart disappeared. >> we found some really

compelling evidence, skilled photo analysts from the state department said we think this might be a lockheed electra landing gear, this is where the airplane went into the drink. we're going to try our best to find her. >> you can see the bug up in the top was discovery channel. they're documenting all of this. here's what's even more cool than that -- the photograph of the landing gear that they assume is the landing gear, that was what spurred them on to do this search. but since then, they found something even better. radio transmissions, about 57 radio transmissions, that had been dismissed way back then. they now believe credibly they could have been radio transmissions from amielia earhart who was trying to get around the world, in that flight in 1937. but sadly, disappeared somewhere between hawaii and new zealand. so that's the expedition, nicomoraru island, it used to be

called gardner's island. tomorrow, cross your fingers. >> could have new information. >> so exciting. 44 minutes past the hour. let's get you up to date. another day of dangerous heat facing millions of americans from the northeast to the midwest. 16 people have died since thursday, when triple-digit temperatures unleashed killer storms and left millions without power. among those dead, two little boys that were camping. this morning, 20 states are under heat advisory warnings, with a state of emergency declared in maryland, ohio, west virginia and virginia. and in other news, the north carolina mother who lost custody of her children after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, has now died. 38-year-old elena giordano grabbed headlines in her fight against a judge who ruled that her children should move to chicago with their father, despite the fact that she was treated for cancer in north carolina and could not leave her doctors. giordano was allowed to spend her final weeks with her son and

daughter before she died. despite a new international agreement on syria, secretary of state, hillary clinton, is not sounding overly optimistic about ending the slaughter there. russia and china have signed on to a deal that calls for a transition government as a step toward ending the six-month uprising and pushing president assad out of office. assad's opponents call the agreement too vague. at 7:30 eastern on starting point. we'll be joined live by veteran newsman, dan rather, airing a special report on syria tomorrow night and he'll be here to tell us about it. a bittersweet end for a marathon swimmer, penny palfrey, the 49-year-old grandmother had to cut off being the first person to swim 103 miles from cuba to florida unaided, without a shark cage, without flippers, without a wetsuit or a snorkel. she had to really dump out of this effort, because on sunday morning, the currents got so

strong it was impossible for her to continue. palfrey was not, not for loss of real struggles throughout the way, too. she got jellyfish stings and she swum for more than 40 hours, so this was a tough thing to call off. silver lining? she set a personal best. good for you, penny. she did the distance of 86 miles and her personal best before that was only 67 miles. is she not only beat her personal best. she smashed her personal best. >> i wish we could clone that determination. i'd like a little chunk of that. >> i've got to be honest, i would never swim the florida straits, shark cage or not. >> i'm not a strong swimmer, so i would pass. oprah winfrey, lady gaga's manager and newark, new jersey mayor, corey booker, how about that? not a bad group of names, right? the heavyweights are joining forces along with others to fund a crowd source news site for teens, called way wire.

the site is part twitter, part youtube and will offer original issues-focused segments and a short newscast three times a day. users will be able to tape and upload video responses to create discussion. love that. listen up, alaska. if you're awake, anyway or if you haven't gone to bed yet. it's probably really light up there right now. the tiny alaska town of bethel, was devastated by a cruel joke back in june. somebody posted a fake flyer announcing a grand opening of a taco bell chain in the community of just 6,000 people. but when the fast food chain found out about the hoax? it decided to make the town's dreams come true. even if only for a day. look at this. are you kidding me? airlifting this? the "alaska dispatch" said taco bell sent 10,000 free tacos to the isolated town via helicopter. >> 10,000 people there? >> well i tell you what, i think with that, 6,000 people, they --

>> some of them won't get seconds, it will be first come, first serve. >> unassembled taco makings, supplies by an anchorage franchise flown in. they'll be assembled on site and distributed to the eager masses. >> so that you saw the sign saying that doritos taco, the new one made out of the doritos shell that everyone made jokes about, but it's good. there it is, doritos, you see the sign. doritos tacos. >> i'm a junk food junkie. 49 minutes past the hour. defending champion spain trounced italy. did you watch this? a 4-0 victory in the euro 2012 finals sunday in kiev. spain got out to a really early lead, never looked back on the strength of goals from david silva and jordy alba, spain becomes the first country to win three major tournaments in a row. i wish we had, do we have the

pictures of the folks celebrating, it was absolutely incredible. an economic crisis, but they were all out on the streets celebrating. >> i can't hear the vuvuzelas. have we returned to sanity on the soccer pitch? i love the sound of celebration without the vuvuzela. >> you like it without it or with it? >> i hate it. >> so do i. >> it's the purest form of celebration. a 9-year-old kid who puts adults to shame. this kid just needs a ping-pong ball and a cup and you're going to see some amazing tricks coming up. if you're leaving the house right now, you can watch us any time on your desktop. mobile phone, go to cnn.com/tv. uh-oh.

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maybe it's the heat because new jersey governor, chris christie is sure sounding hot and bothered today. he was holding a news conference saturday about a collapsed water main when a reporter went off-topic with a question. listen to the governor's response. >> on monday, are you going to be addressing legislature? >> did i say on topic? are you stupid? on topic, on topic. next question. good, thank you -- thank you all very much and i'm sorry for the idiot over there. take care. >> calls him stupid and an

idiot. the reporter was trying to ask christie about a special legislative session that he called for today to make his case for a middle class tax cut. >> not so sure that's appropriate from an official. >> i didn't like it. >> there's a point. >> it was a little disrespectful. >> chris christie. look out, people in glass houses. taking a look at what's trending on the web. public service or blackmail. a new service is posting the names and mug shots and addresses of people who get arrested. right now the site is only targeting johnson county, kansas. but it claims that its aim is to deter crime. nothing else, just deter crime. the site's owner will remove a person's profile in exchange for a fee of $200. after backlash, the site has posted a couple of no fee removal options, like 180 hours of documented community service and they'll wipe your name off the website. >> we have incredible video of a

9-year-old ping-pong trick master. he can make a shot from anywhere. take a look at this. >> that little guy's name is tom spicer. tom's dad says he grabbed the camera when he first noticed his son's amazing talent and apparently we have not seen everything that little boy can do. the end of the clip teases there will be more videos coming soon. >> do we know for sure this is not a hoax? this is amazing. this is absolutely -- >> even he is shocked. look all of these different scenarios. >> i can do it. >> i wonder how he is at billiards. >> wow. >> this is great. >> if this turns out to be a hoax i'm going to be really bummed. because he's cute as a button. >> even if it is, what fun. >> a skateboard, that's great, i could watch this for hours. chinese tourism viral video to talk about, it's poking fun at the british royal family.

the city of cheng du is running taxi cabs, royal look-alikes trying to hail a cab. >> isn't it bad to schlep around in a taxi. >> the commoners want to see us tightening up our belts. >> rubbish, people want to see that they can be like us if they just work hard. >> like you did. >> wills and kate, definitely dead ringers. >> she looks like the queen mum. >> it's uncanny. >> cheng du officials say it's supposed to be harmless fun. the so-called panda cabs promote tourism and raise awareness for the endangered giant panda. widespread power outages amid record-breaking heat. we're live in one of the worst-hit areas coming up. hi, i'm new ensure clear. clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high.

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sweating it out, power outages after a swath of deadly storms leave millions of people in several different states to bake in the triple-digit heat

today. >> plus, turning the tide, firefighters in colorado may finally be getting the upper hand on the deadly inferno that has already destroyed hundreds of homes. and will they or won't they? the photo finish will they or w? the photo finish story of two american sprinters who may not end up participating in a runoff for an olympic spot tonight. we'll have that story for you. welcome to "early start." nice to have you with us. >> we're very happy you're with us. i'm zoraida sambolin. let's get started. hellish heat, the kind that makes it hard to breathe, it's threatening americans from the northeast to the midwest this morning. 16 people have died since thursday when triple digit temperatures unleashed killer thunderstorms, leaving 4 million people without power. just look at how many states are dealing with these sweltering conditions.

in ohio, 427,000 customers were without power at 10:00 p.m. last night. it is the same story in virginia and maryland where hundreds of thousands of people are waiting for the electricity to return. and there's no let up in sight. 20 states are under heat advisory warnings, maryland, vf west virginia and virginia have declared states of emergency. when are they expecting to restore the power there? >> reporter: one good positive sign of progress, the traffic signal just came on a few minutes ago. this is one of the major intersections, down the road i can see to another intersection where the traffic light is still off. as of last night 300 traffic signals in this county alone had been out. if you talk about the area as a whole, still hundreds of thousands of people without power. utility companies are working

quickly to restore power and by the end of the week, everyone, everywhere should have the power back if the weather cooperates. one interesting thing we've seen, pepco, people have been tweeting where the are workers? they tweeted back, they are working on circuits you may not see them but they are at work. there are utility crews come in as 12 states and far away as quebec to help. >> joining us later to talk about when they expect to fully restore the power. we're talking about extreme heat. i don't know if you've noticed the map you put up but everybody is dealing with the heat. how are they handling it there? >> people are doing various things if they don't have air conditioners, going to libraries and shopping malls to cool down. a bunch of people will end up going to work to cool down if they suffered through the

weekend with the extremely high temperatures. we're expecting to see temperatures in the 90s again today. i talk to people who haven't been able to sleep. grocery stores are handing out free bags of ice. 110 cooling centers have opened. in washington, d.c., they had extended pool hours and senior centers opening and centers for the homeless to make sure everyone has a chance to get away from these dangerous high temperatures. >> athena jones, thanks. with temperatures approaching triple digits, employees are being given the option of taking unscheduled leave or working from home. emergency personnel are expected to report to work this morning. in the big apple, there is a power struggle raging at the con edison power company. contract talks broke down over

the weekend. meter readings have been suspended and walk-in centers have been closed as 5,000 workers try to keep the power flowing to 3.2 million customers. joe rigby, joins us from washington. pepco provides most of the electricity to washington, d.c., maryland and virginia and hundreds and thousands of their customers still have no power. >> rob marciano is live for us in colorado springs, colorado, covering the deadly wildfires, which is part and parcel of the heat wave that the east is facing because it hit the where you are, rob, just several days ago. you reported it was moving and it did. it's really what was at the heart of the problems that you're reporting on out of colorado, the deadly wildfires. >> reporter: yeah, the same heat that heat the eastern third of the country over the weekend was the heat that accelerate the the

fires here across colorado springs one week ago. we actually still had record breaking heat but it pales in compare ton to folks in mississippi, 107, 106 degree temperatures, this is all time record highs. a handful of what was set yesterday for record high temperatures. in the past week we've seen 1800 records set, 150 all time record high temperatures. a little bit of relief today for the i-95 corridor from d.c. to boston. still heat advisories and heat warnings for 20 states, dangerous heat for places like memphis and nashville and back through atlanta as well. cooling down to the mid-90s. never thought i would see that. get to the cooling center. heat the number one related weather killer ashleigh and zoraida. the authorities in these communities are doing a heck of a good job considering the lack of power after that devastating

thunderstorm complex rolled through the areas from illinois through virginia over the weekend. no significant cooldown on tap. >> i think that bears repeating what you just said. it is unbelievable since june 24th through to saturday, almost 2,000 records, broken across this country for heat. that is remarkable. >> reporter: it is remarkable. and again, we had record-breaking heat over the weekend here in colorado, just to update that part of the story. 55% containment on the fireline, even with the record heat yesterday. high confidence with the firefighters to the point any allowed a significant number of evacueeses to go back in their homes. we've been able to move closer but there's 3,000 people who remain evacuated. the folks who saw the most significant damage to their neighborhoods and homes were allowed to go look.

they are not going back any time too soon. the community is still reeling and will take several years to recover from what's going down as the most destructive wildfire in colorado history. >> i'm sure what people were seeing what's literally heartbreaking, thanks, rob, rob marciano in colorado springs. seven minutes past the hour. the only abortion clinic still operating in mississippi can keep its doors open at least for now. a new law took effect yesterday requiring abortion providers to be certified ob-gyn practitioners with privileges at area hospitals. that puts the jackson women's health center at risk. a federal judge entered a temporary restraining order that keeps the clinic's doors open until a hearing on july 11th. mexico's old guard is returning to power after 12 years of absence. an official preliminary vote count has this man, nieto, of

the revolutionary party as the winner of yesterday's presidential election. even though the leftist candidate is refusing to concede this thing. nieto's party, controlled mexico for more than 70 years until the election of the national action party and its leader vincente fox back in 2000. four middle school students who verbally harassed their school bus monitor have been suspended from school and the bus for one year. we shared the video with you. all four students will be sent to an alternative education center in sted. they must also complete 50 hours of community service with senior citizens, karen klein says she will spend the nearly $700,000 on her behalf to pay her bills

and help her children and also plans to donate some money to charity. he's back, baby, tiger woods fighting off the dangerous heat conditions and a very strong field of players to win the at&t national in bethesda, maryland yesterday. it is his third win of the season, also happened to be his 74th victory of his career, significant because it moves him past jack nicholas into second place on the all time list, eight victories now, eight victories behind the immortal sam snooed. high drama before two american sprinters are supposed to run of race of their lives with an olympic spot on the line. there is a report that one of them may drop out of tonight's race. you may be surprised who that is. more on that coming up. ment adve

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we showed you this photo last week and brought the story to you of two female runners who finished at an olympic trial race the same time, literally a photo finish. the camera used for the photo, 3,000 frames per second. and it still couldn't determine who finished first. now allyson felix and tarmoh will compete tonight on the u.s. olympic team's 100 meter squad. but there's a catch. they actually might not do that race tonight now. what you ask? joining me is maggie gray who will sort this out. it seemed as we were going to bed this thing was set for big ratings on tv tonight as they did this runoff. >> the race was set and now overnight, si.com is reporting

that jen neeb ba tarmoh has pulled out of the race. it seemeded like they wanted to race as opposed to let a coin flip decide who will be the last woman. bitterness on the pit of tarmoh still exist. she was officially declared the winner and took her victory lap and it was only later on the decision was wrong and it was a dead heat. now she wants to go back and she is not happy about what's going on. right now she has pulled out but hasn't officially withdrawn and looks like usa track and field is trying to convince her of run the runoff tonight. we're all ready for the runoff and to determine this high drama and get an answer. and it seems like things are not sorted out yet. >> pulling out because of anger, i was told i won, to come back at me and suggest i didn't win and make us do this horrible choice that was unprecedented, to either concede to your

friend, because they are friends, toss a coin to find out which one gets the spot, or do the runoff, she's saying none of that works? >> that's a tough situation. she feels like she said in her quotes, she was given almost no option because a coin toss really isn't an option to two world class athletes. >> nor is conceding to your pal. >> this would be the only individual event that jeneba would be qualified for. allyson is a two-time favorite and this is her warm-up too. they worked their entire lives. >> she could still be in the relay and they are team mates. you can imagine the emotion alpal fatigue -- >> nobody said olympic sports isn't dramatic and i have to go to the trials. let me start with michael

phelps, what happened? >> he'll be in eight events again. this is like beijing 2.0. he was going to scale back his program in the london olympics which will be his last game but now he qualified eight events. whether he swims all yet to be determined but he has qualified. >> i don't see lochte in that finish there. >> missy franklin, seven events? >> if she ends up swimming all those events, she'll be the only u.s. women's swimmer to swim in seven events. she's just 17 and going to be a huge part of this games. >> should i start really getting the word gabby douglas in my le lexicon. >> her nickname is the flying

squirrel. she won by a tenth of a point. they are saying this could be the best u.s. women's team since atlanta when they won gold. >> i'm an olympics nerd. >> only a couple of weeks away. this is going to be great. >> maggie gray, thanks for coming in. from the midwest to the northeast, millions of americans are facing another day of potentially deadly heat. 16 people have died since thursday, including two little boys, 2 and 7 years old who were camping when triple digit temperatures triggered storms and left millions without power. a state of emergency has been declared in maryland, ohio, west virginia and virginia. three members of the nato's international security force have been shot and killed in southern afghanistan. they are gunned down by a man wearing an afghan national police uniform. the identities of the victims

and nationalities have not been released. it is not clear whether the attacker was an officer or infiltrator wearing the uniform. >> are you feeling a little off kilter this morning, there was an extra leap second added on to your clock on saturday. and it's causing a whole bunch of technical glitches for very popular websites like linkedin, reddit gawker. because the leap second was added to the coordinated universal time. did you know about utc? me either. it's supposed to keep the clock in alignment with the earth's rotation, you may feel one second more tired or one second older this morning. >> imagine never having to buy another watch battery again. tech company is showing off a new way to power gadget using a person's own body heat. it developed a wrist band that

creates enough power for small electronics like watches and even blue tooth devices and heart monitors. the company is currently working on products for the u.s. government, but hopes to expand to regular consumers by 2013. imagine that? >> and interesting next generation of legos, i have a 5-year-old and 6-year-old. these are called little bits, little bits that get all through your rug and every crevice in your house. >> and maybe in your stomach. >> they look like legos but there's a wee bit of magic inside. take a peek. >> i'm an engineer and i'm the founder of little bits. these are little bits. little bits is a system of electronic modules that snap together with magnets to teach kids about electronics and science and technologies.

one of my favorite things is seeing the first time people interact with little bits. they take two pieces and snap them together and a light comes on and suddenly their face lights up. suddenly you feel like a whole world of imagination open up to them and they are able to imagine what's possible. >> oh, yeah, little bits, little bit of heaven for us moms looking for the next best thing. the founder says everybody is innovator and hopes her creation will inspire little girls and boys to find out more about science. >> it's a great show, sanjay gupta, everything he touches is great. >> do your kids go, look what i made and you wonder what it is? >> they say it's a spaceship, i say that's fabulous. >> the imagination of a child. your parents put things like appliances on layaway, now one famous retailer is taking the whole concept to a brnd new

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you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. if you're tired of going around in circles, get headed in a new direction. ask your gastroenterologist about humira today. remission is possible. i tell mike what i can spend. i do my best to make that work. we're driving safely. and sue saved money on brakes. now that's personal pricing.

we're minding your business this morning. if you're feeling fresh, we're heading a brand-new quarter for stocks. >> maybe it's a new deowed rant in the shower? >> for these two maybe. the readings, three readings on the job market and reports today. factory orders, construction spending, all expected. we're expehope s the rally continues, dow jumped 2% last week. let's bring in alson kosik. you can do lay away on vacations

and go to searsvacations.com. analysts are saying best of luck sears, you're going to need it. look at orbitz, people trust sears but they aren't travel expert. sears makes it easy, you put down 10% for cruises and flights and hotels and car rentals and vacation packages and pay off the rest in increments. sears says there are no upfront fees like other layaway plans. you have to pay everything in full before you take the trip. costco does it too. you know why? because layaway has become more and more popular since the recession. people feel like they need to have that discipline, if i keep putting money in, i'm going to get that item or get that vacation. but the question, i have with sears, who would even realize it's there? when i think of sears, i think of vacuum bags and appliances. they are going to need good marketing. >> i would say the very least.

you and i were talking during the break about costco vacations, i wouldn't have thought about that either had i not seen something walking by. >> even if sears puts up banners in the stores, what about people like me who maybe run in for a vacuum bag or two every now and then? how do i know it exists? this is kind of like free publicity right now. sears has had falling sales for six years in a row. trying to reinvent itself. >> does costco does layaway also? >> yes. >> people will find them if they are chieap. >> thanks, alison. we've been watching carefully what's going on out west and it is really disastrous, not only terrible because of the loss of property and forest, but lives also on the line in colorado.

there is some progress though, thank god. we got a report from the front lines in this desperate fi firefight coming at you next. ♪

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no relief, power outages leave people in several states helpless against the heat. >> progress on the front lines. firefighters taking a stand against colorado's deadly wildfires and may finally be making some head way. >> chris christie uncut, let's a reporter have it. >> boy, what a mouth. i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm ashleigh banfield, nice to have you with us. it is unbelievable the story, the stifling sizzling heat plaguing millions of americans

this morning. more than a million people now in ohio, virginia and maryland have no power. and the temperatures are approaching triple digits, 20 states under heat advisory warnings and a state of emergency has been declared in ohio, maryland, west virginia and virginia. athe athena jones is live in maryland. it could be a week before people get power on and the temperatures are scorching. >> reporter: that's the biggest danger here. the danger from the heat is cumulative, the more likely you are to suffer from heat stroke and that sort of thing. one sign of progress, a few hours the lights were dark and police were out with flares, not toot long ago the lights came back on. intersections down the way the

lights are still out. utility crews are hard at work to get the power restored. companies say it could take until the end of the week for the power to come back to everyone and that's if the weather cooperates. i just checked figures from pepco and they say that 229,000 people are still without power, dominion, the major provider in virginia has nearly 247,000 people without power, that's way down from the million that were without power, dominion customers at the height of this power outage. the real issue is going to be the heat and how to beat it. >> athena jones, thanks very much and try to stay cool yourself, hard to be out there doing live shots in this kind of temperature. let's bring in joe rigby, the ceo at pepco holdings, provides power to washington, d.c. and surrounding neighborhoods. are you there? >> yes. >> this is zoraida.

we appreciate having you this morning. we know at the peak at the power outages we were at 330,000 customers without power. right now athena told us we were down to 229,000? >> it's down to 225,000. at the peek we had 443,000 out. we've restored about 45% of the customers but we're not satisfied we have a lot of work to do and won't be satisfied until we have everyone back. >> our reporter on the ground there mentioned that somebody tweeted out, i have not seen an pepco truck anywhere in montgomery county. do you have any idea when you'll restore the power to folks this that area? >> one thing -- and i appreciate the frustration that people are feeling. right after the storm came through with just tremendous damage, where our trucks and

personnel were concentrated were on the back bone of the system. we need to get the back bone up before we could have a presence in the field. that presence in the field is certainly on the way. we're going to have about almost 1700 line personnel out in the field. they started in force yesterday. we made tremendous progress overnight. people will see a real show of force today and through the week. >> in all fairness, this was a massive storm and in some ways unexpected. we understand utility crews from other states have been called in to help. georgia has arrived. i understand perhaps from canada you were expecting a crew. have all of the reinforcements arrived now? >> quite a few have. actually the furthest north was new brunz wick, canada and they showed up last night. we have crews from georgia and florida. we expect -- we had quite a few come in yesterday. we'll have basically the full force here today.

so, as i said, we're going to have a tremendous level of force out in the field through the rest of the restoration. >> i know you have faced criticism in the past, fined $1 million by the maryland public service commission for failing to fix problems that led to power outages. do you feel you're hampered in any way? what do you think are the major concerns, biggest worries going forward? >> the biggest worry is the well being of our customers. i would say right below that is safety of our personnel and the heat that all of us are experiencing, our singular focus is on getting this restoration done as quickly and safely as we can. yes, we have taken criticism but we're -- our foot is on the pedal of getting this restoration done as quickly and safely as we can. >> i'm sure you know there are temperatures that are expected to remain in the mid to upper 90s for much of the week and perhaps even a threat of more thunderstorms moving forward. are you prepared for that? >> i would say that given the

fact that now all of what we call the mutual system crews are here, we're about as prepared for that as we could possibly be. we're in some ways this is similar to the level of resources available to us when hurricane irene came through last august. >> mr. rigby, if you could tell our viewers when you do anticipate power will be restored. >> this was part of the criticism that came our way last night. we try to provide and set expectations for customers to live their lives around. based on the information we had yesterday morning, given the fact that all of the crews have not arrived and we had not finished the work of yesterday. we indicated we would have 90% of our customers restored by friday. i anticipate now that we have -- with the progress we made particularly overnight and the level of resources here, that we should be able to beat that. the other thing that i would mention is that as we again get

more of the resources out in the field, i think we'll be able to provide more glan you lar information in terms of how many will be back on tomorrow and thursday, with also more specifics about the location. >> mr. rigby, we know you're working hard. we appreciate your time this morning. >> absolutely. >> joe rigby, ceo of pepco holdings. on "starting point," we'll be joined by baltimore mayor, stephanie recaaulings-blake. >> when the supreme court blessed the significant's health care law last week it didn't end the battle for republicans, it inflamed it instead. house speaker john boehner appearing on cbs's "face the nation." when he was asked there were any parts of the law he could embrace, he said this. >> this has to be ripped out by its roots.

this is government taking over the entire health insurance industry. the american people do not want to go down this path. they do not want the government telling them what kind of insurance policy they have to buy and how much they are going to pay for it. if you don't like it, we're going to tax you. it needs to be ripped out and we need to start over. >> i guess that's a no. he was pretty surprised by the supreme court's ruling but insists this only strengthens of resolve of republicans to repeal obama care. at 7:00 eastern on "starting point," republican congressman tom price of georgia will join us, he's a doctor and he's also a member of the house ways and means committee, think taxes. yeah. that's a critical interview. at 8:00 eastern, republican congressman marsha blackburn, says she plans to fight to repeal the president's health care reform law. >> 38 minutes past the hour. amid the desperate struggle to control the flames in colorado, there's also the heartbreak of the home owners returning to

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good morning to you, atlanta, 75 degrees right now. it's going to be hot, 96. but you're in good company. you have afternoon thunderstorms heading your way. enjoy it nice and early this morning. 41 minutes past the hour. colorado battling extreme heat and deadly wildfires, but this morning it looks like firefighters are gaining the upper hand there. with the waldo canyon fire now 55% contained, i'm so happy we're saying that. the focus is on the evacueeses, for all about 3,000 people in colorado springs. sadly, many of them will return to complete devastation. one posted this video of the place we called home for years. >> probably -- my god smoke in

the air so bad. let me see if i can pull up through here. this hill was on fire a second ago. there's flames here. oh, my god. oh, my god. >> that reminds you we take so much for granted. rob marciano is live in colorado springs covering the wildfires. all weekend long i was attached to the television set watching these horrific stories. what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, it's been over a week now and emotions ran high as you can imagine the past seven days. but no more than yesterday as folks were finally allowed to at least see what their homes and neighborhoods looked like. at one point they were going to allow them in buses but they decided to have a kara van of personal vehicles. still 3,000 people are evacuated.

but that's down from 32,000. we caught up with one family that went in back to see their neighborhood yesterday and here's what they had to say about that experience. >> it looked like a war zone. it was just -- it was completely caved in, didn't even look like a house. it was bad. and it just -- the smell, it smelled like smoke and you got down in it and it smelled like ash. it was awful. >> reporter: they are not alone, 346 homes completely destroyed, the most destructive wildfire in colorado history. they have a pretty good handle on this one and evacuation orders may be lifted entirely as we go through the rest of the week but that's yet to be seen. this is not the only area to see devastating wildfires, several fires burn in this state and across the west. this map is highlighting just that. we have a big one in wyoming and

south dakota. c-130 air force fire fighting airplane actually had to crash land fighting a fire up there yesterday. cnn is going in depth and doing a slew of stories focused on wildfire. i'll have one coming up at 9:00 eastern time talking about what we can do to maybe prevent these things and the answer lies at least somewhat in prescribing fires, fighting fire with fire, trying to burn part of the forest before the mega fires can burn us as badly as they did this past week. 9:00 eastern throughout the week we'll have more stories coming at you. they were saying conditions there were just perfect for this fire to grow out of control the way it did. we're looking forward to those reports. i want to remind our viewers, if you want to help folks affected by these fires, go to cnn.com/impact. it's 45 minutes past 6:00. the graduate student from georgia who lost her hands, her

left leg and right foot to the flesh eating bacteria is now getting ready to enter a rehabilitation center. his daughter will moved today to an undisclosed facility for in-patient treatment. it is a bitter sweet end for the 45-year-old grandmother, palfrey, trying to become the first to swim from cuba to florida unaided without a shark cage, flippers, wet suit or snorkel. she abandoned her quest when a strong current made it impossible for her to continue. palfrey fended off painful jelly fish stings and swam for more than 40 hours. we have a silver lining, a personal best with a distance of 86 miles beating her 67-mile record. >> i'm impressed she's a grandmother at 49. that's amazing to me.

here's another one for you, japan's freeways, very soon could be filled with driverless cars. in fact, as soon as the next decade. japanese government is opening talks with nissan and mazda and toyota and honda, hoping to produce robotic cars for the masses by the 2020s, not the tv show the date. how do you assign responsibility when there's an accident that does not have a human driving either car? that's a sticky wicket. 47 minutes past the hour, chris christie says what is on his mind, no dispute there. the new jersey governor may have crossed the line with a reporter at one of his news conference. we'll let you listen and you can decide coming up. ♪ ♪

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it's 50 minutes past 6:00 a.m. here's the top story, another hellish day of heat facing millions of americans from the northeast down to the midwest. 16 people have died since thursday when triple digit temperatures spawned killer storms and left millions of people without power.

this morning 20 states are under heat advisory warnings with a state of emergency declared in maryland, ohio, west virginia and virginia. >> in new york, there is a labor dispute raging at the power company at the height of this crazy heat wave. 8,000 employees the conedison have been looked out after contract talks broke down. walk-in centers have been closed as 5,000 management level workers trying to keep the power flowing to 3.2 million customers. >> a nuclear power plant is back up and running this morning in japan. this despite protests outside of it. the startup operations began sunday night at the ohi nuclear number three reactor. japan shut down all 50 plants for safety checks following last year's meltdown at the fukushima plant damaged by the tsunami.

scientists in switzerland expected to announce they are virtually certain they've considered the god's part cal, the hig's part kel, it could help explain why objects in the universe have weight. scientists have been searching for it for decades. >> the god particle, finally. apple's mobile me app is closed. users that have photos stored now have to switch over to icloud. also syncs all of your devices, even windows computers too. former ceo steve jobs wanted to shut it down years ago saying that it had the potential to tarnish the whole brand. defending champion spain trounced italy in the final sunday in kiev, spain never looked back on the strength of

goals. spain become the first country to win three major tournaments in a row. that victory launched a massive celebration. did you see it? look at this last night. those are the streets of madrid. some loyal fans were simply overcome. >> oh, my gosh. he's crying. they were overcome with emotion. >> at least it was crying and wasn't fighting because that's often what happens at a soccer game. talk about emotion, maybe it's the heat because new jersey governor chris christie is sure sounding hot and bothered these days. he was holding a news conference on saturday and the news conference was about a collapsed water main. and one reporter decided to stray off topic with a question unrelated to the water main issue and listen to how the governor responded to him. >> on monday, are you going to be addressing the legislature?

>> did i say on topic? are you stupid? on topic. next question. good, thank you all very much and i'm sorry for the idiot over there. take care. >> you heard him. calling the reporter stupid and an idiot. that was a reporter who was trying to ask chris christie about a special legislative session he has called for today to make his case for a middle class tax cut. wow, a reporter asking a question about policy in a timely fashion, today, policy today, but on saturday called an idiot and stupid for daring to ask about something unrelated. >> 454 minutes past the hour. she is famous for her role in men in black iii, advice from alex eve coming up. >>what? >>sorry. he wants you to know about priceline's new express deals.

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"starting point" about a minute away. we wrap it up as always with best advice. we asked alice eve what the best advice she's ever received. take a look. >> well, i think a very good piece of advice is please leave the restroom as you would like to find it, in life, in everything, leave something as you'd like to find it. another thing my grandpa used to say from liverpool, north england. come on, keep a cool head. >> go on, keep a cool head. i like it the way it's said in liverpool speak. sounds like the beatles. >> it is good advice, that is from her grandpa. i think we had one before, of

good advice? >> yes. >> typically -- >> i think it is the second grandfather giving advice. leave this restroom the way you found it. the same with your office kitchen, do your dishes in your office kitchen. >> and your bedroom, kids, right? >> good luck with that. >> that's the news. "early start," i'm ashleigh ban field. our starting point this morning, millions of americans face another day of blistering heat and no power or air conditioning. we're hoping help will be coming quicker to some areas but it could be slow. we're live from one of the worst areas hit this morning. what did they know? new questions about how much penn state officials knew about jerry sandusky's encounter with a young boy in a shower and what they did or did not d